NT fires

PM to meet with Martin over Indigenous reforms

Updated
Fri 22 Jun 2007, 8:23 PM AEST

Photo

The NT Chief Minister says the commitment to change levels of Indigenous child sex abuse needs to be long-term.

Anoek de Groot, file photo: AFP

Prime Minister John Howard has agreed to meet with the Northern Territory's Chief Minister next week to discuss the radical changes he is implementing in an effort to solve child abuse in the Territory.

A spokesman for Clare Martin says Mr Howard has found space in his diary to meet with the Chief Minister in Brisbane next Thursday.

Ms Martin earlier said Mr Howard could not find time for at least another week. She says she is worried Mr Howard has leapt into action, just months before an election.

She says the Federal Government's commitment needs to be long-term, if there is to be real change in the levels of Indigenous child sex abuse.

The organisation's executive officer, John Paterson, says Aboriginal people have been unsuccessfully pleading for doctors for decades, yet in an election year, the Prime Minister's found hundreds of GPs for intrusive sexual checks on children.

But NT's Opposition is astonished anyone might think the Mr Howard's sudden action on Indigenous child abuse could be a pre-election stunt.

The Territory Opposition Leader Jodeen Carney says Mr Howard is as genuine about this as he has ever been about anything.

"He no doubt shares our frustration with the lack of action from Clare Martin," she said.

The Government is also considering quarantining welfare payments from all Australians who neglect their children to ensure some money is spent on food and other essentials.

Mr Howard says the Government has been too timid about the issue in the past.

"Constitutional and doctrinal niceties pale into insignificance when you are talking about the protection of children," he said.

Also, the policies have caused dissent within ALP ranks about federal Labor's support for the plan.

Labor leader Kevin Rudd says Indigenous child abuse is beyond party politics and he will work through the details of the Government's radical plan for the NT.

"We now have a proposal for a new direction in action and I'm prepared to give that a go," he said.

But ACT Chief Minister, Jon Stanhope, says the plan is racist.

"I regret that it's been so willingly accepted, or accepted without question, by my federal colleagues," he said.

'Extend controls to regional centres'

Also, an Aboriginal medical service says the tough new controls on alcohol in the NT's remote communities should also be applied to regional centres.

The Federal Government will impose a six-month ban on alcohol in communities, to be enforced by extra police and the monitoring of sales at bottle shops.

Donna Ah Chee, from the Central Australian Aboriginal Congress, says moves to stop grog-running into remote communities are welcome, but she says the problems in Alice Springs can not be ignored.

"There are issues of sexual abuse in our communities here in Alice Springs," she said.

"We've had three murders in Alice Springs in the last couple of months.

"Although it's commendable that there is going to be action done in remote communities we have to apply the same level of attention to regional centres like Alice Springs."

Central Land Council

Meanwhile, a representative body for Aboriginal land owners has responded cynically to the Commonwealth's plans.

The Central Land Council is the only land council yet to speak about the Federal Government's plans to wrest control over Aboriginal land rights.

In a media release, Director David Ross agrees there is an emergency in Indigenous affairs.

But he says the Government's proposed solutions are aimed more at imposing an ideological agenda over Aboriginal land rather than helping children.

He has described the plan as a grab-bag of unrelated strategies aimed at a quick fix in an election year.

The Northern Land Council is yet to comment, while no one is available to speak from the Tiwi Land Council.